Taiwan has received its strongest international support yet at this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday, adding that should the WHO decline the nation’s US$1 million donation to help fight Ebola, at least it has extended its goodwill.
While Taiwan was not invited to the annual WHA for the second consecutive year, its delegation, the “WHA Action Team” led by Chen, flew to Geneva, Switzerland, to protest the nation’s exclusion and engaged in ministerial-level health talks on the sidelines of the meeting.
After the delegation returned home on Saturday last week, its members met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Tsai announced at the meeting that Taiwan would donate US$1 million to the WHO to fight Ebola.
Chen yesterday told lawmakers that the number of countries that voiced their support for Taiwan to attend the WHA reached a record high this year, indicating that a growing number of members of international community empathize with the nation’s demand to participate in the WHO and recognize that it can contribute to global healthcare.
While the donation offer has been met with skepticism, Chen said that it was proposed purely out of consideration for humanity, health and disease prevention.
“It becomes complicated when you think of it politically, but it is simple when you look at it from a disease prevention perspective: People have come to our aid when we needed it, so we will try to help others in need however we can,” Chen said. “We are also fulfilling our duty as a responsible member of the international community.”
While Taiwan failed to donate vaccines due to the complexities associated with donating vaccines across national borders, it succeeded in donating money and relief supplies to the WHO to fight Ebola in 2015 through the assistance of a foundation affiliated with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said.
Asked what would happen if the WHO rejects the donation, Chen said: “We will try to donate through different channels, but it is not within our control if the WHO refuses to accept the donation, and we have already expressed our good intentions.”
However, asked whether other nations would know the donation is from Taiwan if it is sent indirectly, Chen paused momentarily before saying: “People will still know it is from Taiwan, and we do not need to write ‘from Taiwan’ on every donation.”
Separately, former minister of foreign affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) said the donation, while an “extremely positive move,” would not bolster Taiwan’s bid to be included in the WHA.
Speaking on the sidelines of a forum in Taipei on US-China trade friction, he said the donation was a way to give back to the international community and demonstrate Taiwan’s global perspective, as well as its status as a member of the international community.
“However, if [the government] is seeking to gain access to the WHO through the donation, those are two matters that have no bearing on each other whatsoever,” said Ou, who led the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from May 2008 to September 2009 in the administration of then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
There are certain criteria that must be met to become a WHO member or observer, which is why the donation alone will not help Taiwan achieve that goal, he said.
However, while the WHO’s adherence to Beijing’s “one China” principle would make it impossible for Taiwan to make the donation as the Republic of China, the organization and those who benefit from the money would still know it came from Taiwan, he added.
The donation could help improve Taiwan’s international image and show the international community that the nation cherishes the input of others and is willing to give back, Ou said.
Taiwan in 1997 began to seek an invitation to attend the WHA and was finally invited as an observer under the name “Chinese Taipei” from 2009 to 2016 when Ma was in office.
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